Hi again,

Sorry for the delay for those of you following a play by play of our current crisis.  We are fairly settled into a room on the surgical floor here at Doernbecher.  Benjamin is sleeping at the moment.  It's hard for him to get comfortable with the big tube down his nose and the arm restraints on that prevent him bending at the elbow.  If we were to  remove them, he'd have that tube pulled out very quickly.  My reflexes are pretty fast, having been primed extensively this week at home, but I will relax more without having to dive for the crib every time I see his hand twitch.

When we arrived in the room, the surgery resident came and again said that he didn't know if the attending surgeon was going to come in...he had told him that I requested it, but apparently the guy was non-commital.  So I told him that I was sorry that he was in the middle, but I was insisting that this guy come in tonight and look at him and I would be calling frequently to make sure that this happened.  I also suggested that he could call me if he would prefer, so we could talk about my concerns that way.   I really hate to get pushy, but when 'nice' doesn't work, we have to do what's best for the little boy, right?  Our nurse was completely supportive and so she decided to go and page the attending surgeon and he said "oh yeah, I'm coming up at 7:30".  So why didn't you just tell the other guy this several hours ago and save us all some time........

Anyway, in the mean time, I e-mailed the surgeon we trust most in Cincinnati, who almost always answers e-mail day or night, weekday or weekend, withiin 15 minutes...he was right on track tonight and ended up being reassuring that these obstructions do, sometimes resolve themselves with decompressing the bowel by using the tube down the nose.  He hated to create more scar tissue operating if there was a chance it might resolve, so with what they both said, I felt that it was reasonable for us to see what happens over the hours ahead. 

Meanwhile back at the ranch (or is it the funny farm?)  Kristin is finally down for the night.  She had a much better day, but was escalating by this evening.  When Larry went to put her to bed, he discovered that when she had chiseled some wood out of the door casing (this was apparently her early morning job today) she had actually cut thru one of the electirical wires and disabled the electronic lock on her door.  Bad combination...Mom in the hospital, Larry going to work, Krissy with a door that won't lock.  So, our neighbor Roger came over to make a strategic plan .  Our good friends Jim and Erin have been praying for us and in fact Jim had stopped by this morning and looked at Kristin's room.  He had noticed that she had bent an electrial cover part way off too, so when I called Erin about the door, she said Jim was already planning to come over to take care of that.  He graciously agreed to go shopping for Larry (who couldn't leave Kristin to go to the store and he definitely didn't want to take her with him as things had begun to deteriorate by this time)....then came and fixed both things.  I hear he got a glimpse into what we've been dealing with. I haven't actually heard the specifics but I think Krissy tried to snag a hammer from Jim .  She was not at all intimidated by an officer of the law, and took him on over it, no doubt envisioning how this could expidite her demolition project.  From what I hear, she's a sore loser.

We're so thankful for differnt ones that were willing to stay the night so Larry could go to work...Cindy (who had to leave for work at 5:30 am), Mom, Susan....but Molly ended up drawing the short straw.  Seriously we're so thankful that she was willing to do this.  She has college tomorrow, but thankfully it doesn't start until mid-morning, so Lord willing Krissy will sleep well (she certainly had a late start tonight)  Meanwhile, my dear friend Susan came and had gone shopping for Jamie and I, delivering all sorts of nutritious and non-nutritious items to keep us fed.  

Please pray especially for Molly as she will need to get Krissy up and ready for school tomorow.  Larry plans to drive her there when he gets home, dropping Jamie (who's here with me in the hospital overnight) off in time for her pre-calculus exam at Mt. Hood C.C.

I think that's about all I know for tonight.  I'll try and post in the morning as things become clearer where we're going to go with this.

Thanks for your continued prayers,

Janelle